Framingham Board of Health gets a boost

Wednesday

May 14, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Danielle AmedenDaily News Staff

FRAMINGHAM - Town Meeting OK’d a hefty budget increase for the Board of Health Tuesday so it can add staff, roll out a new rental unit inspection program and confront what officials said are serious mental health needs in the community.Members voted nearly unanimously for the new $1 million budget for fiscal ’15 after first shooting down a motion from the floor to reduce it.Town Manager Robert Halpin said the new budget, up from $779,000, is one of the administration’s "three great priorities."He said there’s an urgency to rebuild and reorganize the department so it can deal with the "many, many, many public health challenges" Framingham faces.Board of Health Chairman Mike Hugo said bringing on a social worker will help the town combat what he called a "crisis of epidemic proportions" in the area of mental health.Hugo recalled cases of the woman and 19 dogs rescued from a local motel room, and a man rescuers couldn’t reach with a stretcher because of hoarding in his home."This is really happening in our town," he said.Even more alarming, Hugo told Town Meeting, are statistics about bullying, teen pregnancy and suicide attempts among students in the schools. Six percent of the town’s high school students, he said, have tried to kill themselves.Public Health Administrator Steven Ward said the department’s staffing levels are the same as back in 1988, when he worked here as chief sanitarian, even though it runs 19 core programs compared to the eight back then.Audrey Hall, chairwoman of the Standing Committee on Ways and Means, said the social worker slot in particular is "definitely needed."Approving the administration’s recommended budget would bolster a "demoralized division" and represent an important investment on the town’s part, she said.The new budget also adds a position so the Board of Health can implement a new pre-occupancy housing inspection program to inspect rental units before new tenants move in.Town Meeting quashed an amendment Precinct 5 member Yaakov Cohn offered to cut the budget by nearly $230,000, with only nine members in favor and 129 opposed.Cohn, saying he was skeptical of the large increase, accused the Board of Health of trying to build an "empire."Precinct 14 member Jeff Cox said Town Meeting shouldn’t fool itself into thinking the community doesn’t have mental health problems."I will not stand to say that we don’t need this sort of help," he said.Town Meeting approved the recommended budget as it continued working through the new $237.5 million general fund spending plan.Members were taking up the $109.4 million recommended School Department budget at the time of the Daily News deadline.Town Meeting continues tonight at 7:30 in Nevins Hall.Danielle Ameden can be reached at 508-626-4416 or dameden@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @damedenMW.